Going to the Sun

Going to the Sun Road
(GttSR)
is 52 miles long between its junction with US 89 in St Mary, MT,
(elev. 4,560 ft) and its junction with US 2 in West Glacier, MT,
(elev. 3,154 ft) near Apgar, MT. Visitors' centers are located in
those places and at Logan Pass (elev. 6,646 ft).

The "Big Drift," a wall of snow and ice heaped by winds onto
the eastern flanks of Logan Pass, tops out at about 80 feet,
burying the Going-to-the-Sun Road for most of the year. The
earliest date snowplows were able to push the winter's weight off
the alpine section of the road was May 16, 1987. The latest date
was June 23, both in 1991 and 1995. Snows generally reclaim the
highway by Halloween.

In 1911, only 4,000 visitors came through Glacier National Park's
gates. A decade later, in 1920, visitation had grown to 22,500.
Most of those people arrived by train, and then traveled Glacier's
backcountry in a saddle. At their peak, the park's stables housed
1,000 horses and served 10,000 tourists per year.

By the 1930s, horses had given way to cars, and the explosion of
tourists exploring America by automobile resulted in a similar
explosion in national park visits.

In 1933, the year before the Going-to-the-Sun Road officially
opened, about 76,000 people visited Glacier. Just one year later,
with the road advertised as ready for motorists, 116,965 visitors
drove 40,000 cars to the park. Today, nearly 2 million people drive
500,000 cars over the Sun Road every year.

Not a few questioned the motives of those pushing for a
transmountain route through Glacier, and some went so far as to
construct elaborate conspiracy theories. A 1921 editorial in the
Cutbank Pioneer Press, titled "That Fairy Highway Through Glacier
National Park," concluded the entire enterprise was but a ruse to
pad the pocketbook of [Great Northern] railroad tycoon Louis Hill.
In the editorial, Glacier County Commissioner J.M. Hyde announced
what he held to be a plot in which Hill secretly bankrolled an
impossible road that, if finished, would remain closed "ten or
eleven months of the year." That way, Hyde said, Hill's railroad
could continue to cash in by hauling about 8,000 cars across the
divide every year, at a price of $10 to $15 per car.

The debate raged until construction began on Highway 2, a
year-round road wrapping over the low, wooded brow beneath the
park.

"People wanted a practical road," Carr said. "Well, the Sun Road
was never going to be a practical road. It was designed from the
beginning to be a spectacular road."

The spectacular road finally would not have its 15 switchbacks,
leaving motorists above to look down upon lines of motorists below.
Instead, it would have one great switchback, and then would
traverse the sheer cliffs of the Garden Wall on its approach to
6,646-foot Logan Pass from the west. Motorists would look down on
unbroken forest and silvery flashes of river, not on the roadway
below.

The Park Service laid down strict rules regarding light-on-the-land
construction, insisting on small blasts, a minimum of power tools
and a very narrow corridor of environmental impact. The Bureau of
Public Roads complied when convenient, and ignored the rules the
rest of the time.

"Our friends at the Bureau are essentially road builders, dirt
movers, rock blasters, (and) surfacing experts," wrote park
Superintendent Charles Kraebel in a 1926 letter. "They are only
beginning to learn what the park roads require in the way of
landscape protection. ... We are not safe in giving them too free a
hand."

One crew, working with far too free a hand for Kraebel's liking,
cut a narrow walking ledge along the vertical wall. They then spent
an entire week edging their way along that lip, packing drill holes
with more than 12 tons of black powder and 80 crates of dynamite.
The men wore wool socks over their hobnailed boots to avoid
throwing sparks while they worked.

And when they blew the charges, an entire mountainside rumbled into
the valley below. Trees were mowed over, carried down by the force
of the blast and the rockslide. Those huge trunks filled the
rivers, where they piled up in logjams and caused the waters to
flood out the recently completed lower road.

Jean Ewen, writing in the September 1934 edition of "Civil
Engineering," notes that, "The greatest achievement in the
construction of the Going-to-the-Sun Highway is not its character
as an engineering feat. This must be considered only secondary to
its greater function, that of making accessible to modern
transportation the age-old wonders of the engineering of time and
the elements -- the movement and construction of a range of
mountains, the excavation of great channels by glaciers whose
probable dimensions must tax even the most vivid imagination. Our
only prayer must be that our work may be truly a component part of
this wonder of nature, that we may not have marred that which we,
with all our science, knowledge and experience, could never
reproduce."

Upper St Mary Lake, Glacier Park

Don't miss riding GttSR; just be aware that it is heavily
traveled. Vehicles wider or longer than 8x21 ft are prohibited.
Drivers must be cognizant of overhead clearance of tall vehicles.
There are time-of-day regulations about which lanes may be used by
bicycles. Consider taking a bus tour.

If you drive, go early. That way you will be able to find parking
spots on the more popular turnouts. Be alert to other traffic of
the four-wheel and the two-wheel kind. Also, watch for hikers of
the two-foot and the four-hooved kind, crossing where sightlines
are shortest.

A fee is charged for admission to Glacier National Park via GttSR.
The pass you receive is good for a week thereafter at any
entrance.

Take the opportunity to ask the Park Service
about road delays due to weather and construction. GttSR
continually undergoes renovation. When I crossed it on 02 AUG 2004,
I was held up in traffic for a few minutes in a couple of places by
road crews repairing retaining walls.

Keeping GttSR open at all requires sophisticated procedures and
specialized equipment. Crews conform to schedules published on
seasonal Web sites. You should view pictures of snow-removal and
repair operations to appreciate the need for them and to comfort
yourself with the notion that these people are on the job.

I set out about 07:00 am after pancakes and coffee
at:

The Park Cafe
US 89
St Mary, MT
406-732-4482

From an anonymous discussion-group posting:

"The waiters [at an upscale restaurant in St Mary] are
treated terribl[y,] and most of them eat either at the Park Cafe,
Two Sisters, The Taco Shack, or Charlie's anyway, so -- take it
from someone who knows -- support the smaller family-run places.
The atmosphere is much more interesting, and the money is going to
people who treat their employees with dignity. Plus, the food is
great! If I were you, I'd go to the Park Cafe for breakfast, The
Taco Shack for lunch, Two Sisters for dinner, and the Babb Bar for
after-dinner drinks. ... good places, all."

Contrary to what you might suppose given this example, the English
language skills of the wait staff at the Park Cafe are
superior to those of their competition. Less politically
progressive readers will be gratified to learn that
First Lady Laura Bush eats there!

Triple Divide Peak, Glacier Park

St Mary Lake in the foreground is in the watershed of the
Saskatchewan River. Rain falling this side of Triple Divide Peak
winds up in Hudson Bay. Triple Divide Peak is on the Continental
Divide. Rain falling behind it to the left is captured by Cut Bank
Creek and winds up in the Gulf of Mexico. Rain falling behind it to
the right follows the Middle Fork of the Flathead River via Nyack
Creek and winds up in the Pacific Ocean.

Wild Goose Island, Glacier Park

This is the picture everyone takes. It's only a few steps
from
the turnout to the overlook. The legend is that a pair of geese
occupied the island for a couple of years, but that was quite a while
ago.

Did I say everyone stops here? I meant everyone! This
turnout is typically congested, but, if you take my advice and
start early from the east side, you should be able to squeeze
in.

Jackson Glacier, Glacier Park

The sight of snowfields is commonplace, but this glimpse of
Jackson Glacier is the only good view of a glacier that you can get
from the road.

The glaciers of Glacier National Park appear to be excellent
barometers of climate change. For instance, there was a drastic
rate of glacial retreat during the period from 1920-1940 when this
region had above average summer temperatures and below average
annual precipitation. From 1960-1979, several of the larger
glaciers advanced very slightly during a period of greater
precipitation and lower temperatures. Thus, long-term reductions in
glacier size reflect long-term increases in average temperature
and/or reductions in winter snow.

I rode GttSR from St Mary to West Glacier. That way I was on the
inside lane next to the north face of St Mary valley and along the
Garden Wall west of Logan Pass. Opposing drivers from the flatlands
were crowding and crossing the center line, trying to keep away
from the low rock parapets separating them from the nothingness on
their right hand.

I reached the Logan Pass parking lot about 09:00 am. It was not
full. There were a number of motorcycles in the lot, occupying
special bike corrals, which are provided at both ends of every row
of diagonally parked cars.

I shinnied up the boardwalk to Hidden Lake overlook. They
say this is a 1-1/2 mile trek, but they don't tell you how far up
that is. As time wore on, the pedestrians passing me
became numerous. By the time I returned to the parking lot about
noon, the scene there was ugly. All the tourists that the lot could
hold had joined a traffic melee, circling in their SUVs and
slamming them into any conceivable space.

From time to time there are proposals made to widen GttSR to three
or four lanes. One supposes the intended result to be like I 70
through Glenwood
Canyon, CO. These suggestions are taken no more seriously than
those to initiate food service on Logan Pass where water must be
hauled in and waste trucked out.

Garden Wall, Glacier Park

The Garden Wall is an
arete formed when two separate glaciers work on opposite sides
of a divide.

Mountain Goat, Logan Pass, Glacier Park

Besides avoiding the crowds along the boardwalk, another
advantage to an early start is seeing wildlife, which regularly
retires in midafternoon. This goat leaves the hubbub to take a
siesta.

Tourists are strongly cautioned not to approach wildlife and, when
possible, are restrained from doing it by the Park Service.
Wildlife relies on this and presents a fearless
aspect.

Mountain Goat, Logan Pass, Glacier Park

Taking pictures is a good time. It makes your eyes active and
your mind alert. You feel grateful when opportunity and ambition
coincide. My advice, for what it's worth, is:

Don't curb your sightseeing in inclement weather, so
long
as it isn't life threatening, and

Carry your camera everywhere you go.

Maybe the wildlife is acting coy. Take your pictures
of
landscape, instead. Perhaps the sun is hidden by clouds, and the
vistas are obscured by mist. That's when the wildlife may be near,
and you need to keep your eyes pealed.

Hidden Lake, Glacier Park

Eventually, one reaches the Hidden Lake overlook.

Near Logan Pass, Glacier Park

The trail to Hidden Lake crosses the Continental Divide. This
is about as far from drainage as land can get.

Glacial Striations, Logan Pass, Glacier Park

The contours of the rock layers at the upper right are
grooved straight across by abrasive stone carried in the
glacier that leveled this meadow. The grooves are aligned in the
direction of flow. "Did you see a glacier run through here just
now?" "Yep, it went thataway."

Krummholz, Logan Pass, Glacier Park

These trees are growing at their altitude limit.
Environmental
stress impacts their shape.

Bird Woman Falls, Glacier Park

Descending GttSR from Logan Pass toward West Glacier, one
finds
the scenery no less impressive than that east of the Continental
Divide.

Glaciers carve U-shaped valleys. When they retreat, they often
leave
hanging valleys, which end in midair.

McDonald Creek, Glacier Park

There is a large turnout near a newly erected complex of
stairs
and platforms, which facilitates sightseeing concomitant with the
unloading and reloading of buses.

Lake McDonald Lodge, Glacier Park

Built in 1913 by John Lewis,
Lake McDonald Lodge was known as the Lewis Glacier Hotel until
1957 even though the Glacier Park Hotel Company, a division of the
Great Northern Railway, had acquired the concession in
1930.

This building predates roads in the area. Patrons arrived by boat.
Thus, it faces the lake. This, the landward side, is the rear of
the structure.

Atrium, Lake McDonald Lodge, Glacier Park

Mr. Lewis' collection of hunting trophies is still displayed
in
the lobby.

Lake McDonald, Glacier Park

I reached Apgar at the lower end of the lake about 03:00 pm.
This is the western terminus of GttSR.

Fire Kill, Glacier Park

About a year ago in 2003, wildfire swept around the north
side
of Lake McDonald. As is usual with wildfire, it burned erratically.
In this place, the road served as a firebreak.

The flora and fauna of the Rockies are fire adapted and regenerate
quickly after wildfire burns. Fireweed seeds are omnipresent and
germinate where the soil is disturbed. Thus, fireweed is one of the
first species to take advantage from fire's passing
by.